


We All Need Friends

by LilyAceOfDiamonds



Series: We All Need Friends [1]
Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Homelessness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:55:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22504378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyAceOfDiamonds/pseuds/LilyAceOfDiamonds
Summary: Jason Todd runs away, and makes a friend who is more understanding in ten minutes than any of the Titans ever were.
Series: We All Need Friends [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624585
Comments: 6
Kudos: 130





	We All Need Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I’m pissed about how Jason was treated in the last half of season two of Titans. So, I fixed it. This is set after the whole confrontation pre-rooftop, if he had just left like he was planning, but honestly it could be after the finale too.
> 
> I have no idea how old Jason is supposed to be, so I made it up. And Harper is probably *supposed* to be an adult to be helping Donna, but just go with it, younger Roy definitely could get into the find-bad-guys gig, alright?
> 
> I stole some dialogue from the show, as well as the comics. I can’t remember which RHATO or RedHood/Arsenal comic issue the title’s conversation came from, i had a screenshot of it on my phone and i’m too lazy to look, but it was when the boys first met in Gotham.
> 
> Location for this is unspecified, but I like to think it’s LA since that’s where the boys were roommates in Harper’s warehouse apartment in RH/A.
> 
> There might be more to this, who knows. Jason Todd just needs a hug. And a shrink. Whose name is Harley.

Falling. Window after window passing, knowing this was the end. Wind rushing in his ears, loud enough to drown out his own screams.

He thinks he’s screaming, at least.

“Hey, kid, you okay?”

Jason jerks awake in an instant, analyzing the situation in a split second the way Bruce taught him as adrenaline surges through his veins. He’s still in the doorway he had found last night, a deep enough stoop that he is protected from the rain that’s pouring down in the city. He still has his hoodie-turned-pillow, the only thing he had grabbed on his way out of the tower.

The only change is the guy leaning against the wall in the rain. He wasn’t there before.

Jason flinches back into the corner, years of instincts to get out of reach and make himself a smaller target overriding any training to fight he’s had as Robin. The other guy holds his hands out in a placating gesture and doesn’t move.

“Breathe, kid, it’s okay, i’m not going to hurt you.”

Jason almost snorts at the absurdity of that statement, but he realises that he does need to breathe and his brain hasn’t gotten that memo yet.

He tries to suck in air, but his ribs protest and he coughs as his body suddenly remembers how much pain he’s in. Falling onto a car with a human pillow is still a hard impact, even if he had shrugged it off in the chaos of everything that had happened afterward. Jason’s pain was nothing compared to the mystery man who had been shot and ended up in a coma. It’s not like he hadn’t had worse, after all.

He’s wheezing, gasping desperately for air, when a clinking noise near him has his eyes flickering over to the momentarily-forgotten stranger. The soaked man had slid down to sit on the farthest side of the doorway from Jason’s corner, and had set a flask of some liquid on the ground next to him.

“Deep breathes, in and out. You’re alright, kiddo.”

After several more minutes of concentrated breathing, Jason trying to match the slow breathes the other guy was demonstrating, he can feel the panic lifting. He lets out a sigh and leans his head against the wall behind him, exhausted but aware of his surroundings once again.

“Fuck.”

The stranger chuckles quietly and takes a swig from the flask before offering it to Jason. “Want some?”

Jason squinted at him. Up close and alert, the other man was really just a kid, probably only a few years older than him. Definitely not old enough to be drinking.

He takes the proffered container and sniffs it before taking a sip of the bourbon he can smell inside. He coughs again as he hands it back, from the burning liquid this time, but the stranger is polite enough not to laugh.

“Thanks.”

The guy tucks the flask away and takes his baseball cap off, revealing shaggy red hair that drips onto his collar as he shakes his head like a dog. Jason realizes that he’s still sitting mostly in the rain, and shifts into a better (more defensive, Bruce whispers in his mind) position on his side of the stoop. “Hey, you can move back, out of the rain, if you want.”

The other kid nods and moves slowly, telegraphing his motions as he pulls himself further into the doorway and sits criss-cross opposite him. Jason appreciates the slow movements, well aware of what could have happened if this guy had startled him awake with touch. He takes a few more breathes as they sit there, watching the rain pour down outside their safe doorway.

“I’m Roy.”

“Hi, Roy.” Jason pauses, still wary but about to offer his own first name when the redhead snorts with laughter. “What?”

“Nothin’, that’s just what they say in AA. ‘Hi, i’m Roy, and i’m an alcoholic’, and they all say ‘Hi, Roy’ as if they give a damn.”

Jason’s eyes flicker to the pocket the flask is in, and Roy smirks. “Yeah, it’s not really working for me. But hey, gotta start somewhere.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, they sit there for another minute before he realizes he never told Roy his name.

“I’m Jason.”

Roy looks over and nods. “Hi, Jason.”

Jason stares out at the street, not sure how to talk to a mostly- stranger. Not sure how to talk to anyone that isn’t a Titan or Alfred, and he even managed to fuck that up.

“You, uh. You okay?” Jason almost laughs as he looks over at Roy, but the redhead has a hand up and is shaking his own head. “Sorry, stupid question. You were twisting and turning in your sleep, mouth open but no sound. Didn’t look like you were enjoying the nightmare.”

Jason freezes, thrown back into the memory at his words. Falling, holding on to Dick, slipping. Windows flashing by. Screaming.

“Jay?”

He shudders and shakes his head hard, blinking. “Fuck. Fuck!”

“So not a regular nightmare, then. Sorry. Didn’t mean to bring it up.”

Jason presses his palms to his eyes, enjoying the darkness for a minute. “’S okay. Sorry. I’m okay. Just ... just an unpleasant memory.”

Roy leans closer and Jason can’t stop his flinch, but he just passes the flask over. “Hey, man. I get it. Some shit you just can’t shake. You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

Jason takes a hefty swallow and leans his head back against the wall. “It’s not like I have anyone else to talk to. ‘M poison, I fuck everything up. Everyone thinks it’s my fault.”

“I’m sure that’s not true, you’re just a kid.”

He scoffs. “I once spent two nights in juvie and four fucking people died. I’m cursed.”

“Damn.” Roy motions for the flask, and Jason passes it over. “Still. I’m probably not the best person to give self-esteem advice, but there’s no way that everything is your fault. That’s just improbable, statistically.”

“Yeah, well. Everyone I was living with thinks I did something I didn’t, and I don’t even know what it was. Some kind of practical joke, crosses and soda bottles, but they all blamed me for it even though I told them I didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about.”

The redhead whistles. “That’s some bullshit. So you left? That why you’re sleeping here?”

Jason nods. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“Well, I have an apartment if you wanna come stay for a few days, get your feet under you.” Jason raises his eyebrows in surprise, and Roy grimaces. “Okay, ‘apartment’ might be too strong of a word... Sketchy warehouse slash workshop slash safehouse.”

“Really? Don’t you have to be an adult to rent an apartment?”

Roy gasps dramatically. “I am nineteen, that is an adult thank you very much! How old are you, fourteen?”

Jason glares. “I’m sixteen, asshole.”

“Sure, kid. Anyway, wanna crash there? I need to get some fucking sleep, as nice as this stoop is.”

“Why?”

“Why what? Why do I need sleep?” As if he doesn’t realize the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

“Why are you trying to help me? I don’t need your fucking help, I don’t even know you!”

“Hey, I’m just trying to be friendly.”

“I don’t need friends. Friends just let you down.”

“We all need friends, Jason.” Jason can’t look at him, doesn’t want to see the pity in his eyes. Another minute passes, and Roy takes out a notepad and pen from his pockets and scrawls something before ripping a page out and sliding it over to Jason.

“You change your mind, just come find me.”

Jason waits until Roy has been gone for several minutes before looking at the paper. An address and a phone number.

Jason thinks about whether going off to a strange man’s apartment is the safest move, but it’s not like he couldn’t take him out if he needed to. He’s Robin, for fucks sake.

Roy was right. ‘Apartment’ is too good of a word. But it has four walls, a roof, and a bed. Sometimes that’s all that matters when the alternative is an alleyway.

Having someone who doesn’t think he’s a fuck-up doesn’t hurt, either.


End file.
